Galavanting-Gourmet

Saturday, 1 November 2014

Huevos
Rancheros meets Ham, Egg and Chips

I
really fancied huevos rancheros today, but as I'd already used my Hex
B for my bacon butty at breakfast, I decided to substitute a thick
slice of ham for the tortilla.

The
advantage of serving it with a cooked salsa rather than raw, is that
I could add plenty of onion to really up that superfree.

Husband
requested chips, so I made him some black pepper jacket wedges.
They're almost chips, and I can't be too compliant now can I?

So,
this is what I did:

Serves
2

Syn
free on Extra Easy

2
thick slices of ham, all visible fat removed

4
potatoes, skin left on, cut into wedges

salt
and coarsely ground pepper

8
tomatoes, de-seeded and finely chopped

1
red onion, peeled and finely chopped

2
yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped

To
flavour the salsa, I used the leftover spicy sauce from last night's
tiger prawns, which consisted of:

a
small knob of ginger, minced

a
couple of cloves of garlic, minced

1-2
tbsp tomato purée

1-2
tsp paprika

Par
boil the potatoes, shake well in a sieve or colander to rough them up
a bit, place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and cracked black
pepper. Cook in the oven on a high temperature until nicely brown.

Meanwhile,
make the salsa. Sauté the chopped onion, garlic and ginger in Fry
Light until soft, then add the tomatoes. Continue cooking for a
minute or two, then add the tomato purée and paprika. You may need
to add some water if the mixture is too stiff.

Bake
the butternut squash at 210°C until al dente (or as soft as you
would like it). When cooked, scoop out the flesh using criss cross
cuts which don't go right the way through the skin (much as you would
with a mango).

Bring
a saucepan of water to the boil and add the prawns. Cook for 2-3
minutes until the turn pink. Do not overcook or they will be tough.
Drain, retaining the liquid, and plunge immediately into a bowl of
iced water to arrest the cooking process. When cool enough to handle,
peel the prawns.

Sautée
the garlic and ginger in a little Fry Light until it is just
beginning to go brown, then add the tomato purée and paprika plus a
little of the cooking water from the prawns. Just before the risotto
is ready, add the prawns to the sauce – either whole or sliced –
to reheat.

Place
the rice in a saucepan with some of the cooking liquid from the
prawns, bring to the boil and stir continuously while the rice
absorbs the liquid. Continue adding about a ladle-ful of water each
time, adding the wine and bouillon powder at some stage. About half
way through (the whole process usually takes 20-30 minutes), add the
leeks. When the rice is cooked to your liking, add the butternut
squash and stir until the squash it heated through. Take the risotto
off the heat and stir in the cheese. Serve with the prawns on top.

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Cheat's
Chicken Fajita

Fajitas
are a favourite in this house when we want something quick and easy
for lunch or dinner, so when I discovered that I could have the BFree
wraps as my Healthy Extra A, I was very excited. I would normally
have (at least) a couple of fajitas, but thinking about it, the
filling is what really matters. So I made one HUGE wrap today, full
of flavoursome chicken and superfree veggies, with just 1 syn!
Result!

I
call this a “cheat's chicken fajita” because I used cooked deli
chicken instead of chopping and frying my own.Tut tut tut.

Serves
2

1
syn on Extra Easy*

* providing you use the wrap as your
Healthy Extra B

BFree
Wheat and Gluten Free Wholegrain
Wraps

ca
1/3 green pepper, thinly sliced

ca
1/3 red pepper, thinly sliced

ca
1/3 yellow pepper, thinly sliced

1
small onion, thinly sliced

250g
cooked chicken, torn into small pieces

1
tsp paprika

1
tsp celery salt

1
tsp salt

½
tsp cayenne pepper

1
tsp ground cumin

1
tbsp garlic powder

1
tbsp onion powder

1
tsp sweetener

4-6
tomatoes, depending on size, deseeded and finely chopped

½
onion, peeled and finely chopped

a
few coriander leaves, finely chopped

½
tsp lazy chilli (or to taste)

salt
and black pepper

2
tsp lemon juice

4
tbsp fat free fromage frais

4
tbsp Discovery Guacamole Style Topping (½ syn per tbsp)

salad
leaves to serve

Sauté
the peppers and onions in Fry Light until soft. Add the chicken and
stir well. Mix the paprika, celery salt, salt, cayenne pepper, cumin,
garlic powder, onion powder and sweetener and add 2-3 tbsp water to
mix. Pour into the chicken and vegetable pan and stir well to coat.
Continue stirring, adding more water if necessary, until everything
is heated through.

While
the vegetables are cooking, make the tomato salsa. Mix together the
chopped tomatoes, onion and coriander, and add the lemon juice, lazy
chilli and salt and pepper to taste.

Place
one wrap on each plate and top with the salad leaves, followed by the
chicken and vegetable mix. Divide the tomato salsa between the two
plates and top with fromage frais and guacamole style topping. Roll
up – if you can, mine was so fat it was almost impossible – and
enjoy.

Monday, 2 June 2014

Cinnamon
Crisps with Mixed Fruit Dip

I
love surfing the net for ideas of what to make. I mostly just type in
just one or two keywords and press “Images”; and take a look at
the pictures that come up. Usually I can find a recipe I can adapt or
I get an idea for a completely new one. This is something that I
would never even have considered, but it was certainly worth the
effort. It's very different and the texture of the crisps goes well
with the softness of the fruit. Remember to syn the fruit if you cook
or purée your fruit or berries.

** I used frozen mixed fruit
(apples, blackcurrants, redcurrants, blackberries and raspberries)
from Farrington Gurney Farm Shop. It is available loose, has a lovely
fresh taste and saves a lot of chopping.

Serves
2

Syn
free*

* providing you use the wraps as your Healthy Extra B

2
BFree Wheat and Gluten Free
Wholegrain Wraps

2
tbsp sweetner

1
tsp cinnamon

finely
chopped fruit or soft berries to serve**

Cut
each tortilla in 12 pieces and place on a pizza cooking plate.

Spray
with Fry Light. Mix together the sweetener and cinnamon and sprinkle
evenly over the tortillas. Spray with Fry Light again over the top
and bake in the oven at 200-210°C for around 5 minutes.

You need to
keep an eye on it as they can easily burn. They are done when
slightly puffed out and have turned crispy.

Mondays
are nearly always leftover days, and today I managed to empty no less
than eight containers when cooking our lunch – not bad going eh?

This
is not a recipe as such, more of an idea of what to do with
leftovers. Using the remains of the meatloaf as a base, I added
nearly all the leftovers I had in the fridge. The list looks like
this:

meatloaf

cooked
Jersey Royal potatoes

cooked
carrots

cooked
baby sweetcorn

cooked
tenderstem broccoli

cooked
sugarsnap peas

grilled
cherry tomatoes

I
also had containers with Oriental coleslaw and Vietnamese pickled
vegetables which I mixed together, and half a box of salad leaves
which I served alongside the hash.

I
started off by crushing the potatoes between two palms, then tearing
them roughly with my hands. In a large pan sprayed with some Fry
Light, I sautéed the potatoes for a few minutes before adding
everything else. I found it to be a little dry, so I added some water
to make it a smoother consistency and some chilli flakes to zest it
up a little.

I do love leftovers, and the challenge of
creating something that tastes good.

This
dish is nowhere near as difficult as it looks and is sure to impress
your guests. It has plenty of superfree, especially as I served it
with carrots, sugar snap peas and baby sweetcorn.

Lots of superfree

Serves
4

Syn
free on extra easy

500g
turkey breast, cubed

200g
mushrooms, sliced

3
leeks, sliced

200g
fat free fromage frais

1-2
tbsp bouillon powder

½
tsp mustard

1-2
tbsp sweetener

dash
of Worcestershire sauce

500g
wholewheat tagliatelli

Sauté
the turkey, mushrooms and leeks in Fry Light until the vegetables are
soft and the turkey cooked through. Turn the heat right down and add
fromage frais, bouillon powder, mustard, sweetener and Worcestershire
sauce to taste. Stir until heated through, but make sure it doesn't
boil at it will curdle. You may want to add some water to get the
right consistency.

Meanwhile,
cook the tagliatelli as per packet instructions, and drain. Grease a
doughnut-shaped baking tin and stuff the pasta in the ring. Place a
flat serving dish over the top and put the whole thing in an oven on
very low for a few minutes to firm it up a bit. It is best to have a
dish that is quite a bit larger than the size of the ring as the
content will spill over the edge when you cut into it if the plate is
too small (as I found out). When you are ready to serve, turn the
plate upside down and ease the tagliatelli out of the ring. Spoon the
stroganoff into the centre and serve with vegetables or a salad.

I
love cheesecakes but they are so not diet foods, but this gives me a
little bit of relief from my cravings without breaking the syn bank.
This is a nice and easy recipe which is assembled in minutes.

Serves
2

Syn
free on Extra Easy*

* providing you use the cream cheese as
your Healthy Extra A

2 kiwis

a
handful blueberries

150g
Philadelphia Light

200g
fat free fromage frais

sweetener
to taste

a
few drops rum essence

2-3
tbsp caramelised buckwheat

In
tall wine glasses, place the finely chopped kiwi flesh and
blueberries. Mix together the cream cheese, fromage frais, sweetener
and rum essence and spoon over the fruit. Just as you are about to
serve, sprinkle the buckwheat over.

Followers

About Me

I am a 50-something female who is not just passionate, but obsessive, about food, travel and photography. I will try just about anything, at least once. I may not like it, but at least I've tried.
At the moment I am trying to combine losing weight, cooking exciting and appetising meals, saving money on my weekly grocery shop and creating something worth photographing in the process.
My cooking is anything but an exact science so if you're looking for accurate measurements and detailed descriptions, you're reading the wrong blog. I usually just take a little bit of this, some of that, a pinch of something else and keep repeating until it tastes good.
The recipes are based on the Slimming World programme.
PLEASE NOTE: THE PHOTOS ARE ALL MINE AND COVERED BY COPYRIGHT, PLEASE DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION